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UPDATE 1-Slovenia bourse owners get 7 bids for the bourse

Sat Feb 9, 2008 4:52am EST

(Updates with quotes in paras 2-4)

LJUBLJANA, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The owners of Slovenia's Ljubljana stock exchange received 7 non-binding bids for 64.15 percent of the bourse by Friday afternoon deadline, a company representing the owners said.

"We are satisfied with both the price and the contents of the bids and expect to choose by the end of the next week 3 to 4 bidders who will move to the second phase of the bidding," Andrej Zejn, managing director of Arkas, told Reuters on Saturday.

He said the chosen bidders will get more information and will be invited to place binding bids, adding the sale process is expected to be completed by the end of June at the latest.

The names of the bidders and details of the bids will not be revealed during the sale, Zejn said.

Arkas had said earlier the selection would be made according to the offered price, plans for the bourse's strategic development and the willingness to actively participate in developing the Slovenian capital market.

Athens bourse said earlier this week it had submitted the bid while Warsaw bourse said it would do so. A group of 7 Slovenian companies, which include mostly financial firms, also said it placed a bid.

According to local media reports, Euronext, Nordic bourse operator OMX and bourses in Vienna and Milan have shown interest in buying euro-zone member Slovenia's only bourse.

A year ago, bourse owners rejected a bid by OMX, which offered 125.19 euros per share, valuing the exchange at 4.2 million euros ($6.09 million).

According to the local media current bids are expected to be significantly above that and could reach some 700 euros per share.

The Ljubljana bourse is owned mostly by local banks and brokerages and has 188 securities listed with a total market capitalisation of some 24.7 billion euros. (Reporting by Marja Novak; Editing by Ron Askew)



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